crawford



J. H. CRAWFORD 1 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 22, 1929.

MINING APPARATUS Original med Jan. 10.1925

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ITED STATES Re...,l7, 467

PATENT OFFICE JOHN H. CRAWFORD, OF UBG, ILLINOIS m'ING APPARATUS 'orlilnal. Io. 1,617,911,

- This invention relates to a new and imroved mining apparatus and.more particurl to a. machine adapted to both dig and loa material such as coal in the relatively restricted A areas available in underground mining operations.

This invention relates specificially to a device which is capable of removing coal or other material, directly from the face or breast of thecoal in a coal mine, for example, by purely mechanical means, without the intervention or either undercutting or of shoot- .ing the seam, and then depositing the recovered coal directly into pit cars or similar conveyances.

One known type of device heretofore employed in mines, operates a suitably arranged scraper which s controlled by a system of wire rope haulage, by which means the shot go down coal is gathered by a scraper and dragged a varying distance to an inclined lane, at the upper side 01 which, the scraper umps its accumulation of coal into the pit car. as A considerable number of other coal loading devices combine the conveyor, scraper and actuating mechanism in one compact whole which is brought directl up the shot and undercut face and the coa thered and conveyed into the pit cars, -w ich are dis directly back of the loading device.

Other ty consist merely of conveyers which are orced under the shot down coal;

dependence. being placed upon the conveyor fli hts to gather the coal.

Y me machines perform allthe functions of coal winning in one operation or, sequence of operations, in that they do their own undercutt' by means of'power driven punchers or chains. After the undercutting is accomplished, the conveyorportion of the mechanism is run into the e either the 'unchers or the other cuttin chain's kn down the coal above'the ker and eonve it into the pit cars behind the machine. Vith these machines,-no explosive is required but the. are complicated and of low czpacity and ave not come into very gener use. Still other tgpes of these'ma- 60 chines depend upon shovel evices for gatheradapted to both remove the material directly 'paratus of this character adapted for use 11L 'cally certain produced and then dated ll'ebraary 15, 1887, Serial No. 1,689, fled January 10, 1988. Application for reissue filed February 15, 1898. Serial Io. 840,808.

ing the shot down coal similar to the sinall. steam shovels in use today on excavation work above ground level.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved mining machine from its position in the seam and to load it on to cars or other conveying means.

It is a further object to provide an apmine chambers havin a low roof. v

It is an additiona object to provide a tyge of minin machine adapted to make a la ral cut in t e material being mined.

Other and further objects. will appear as the description proceeds.

I have illustrated somewhat diagrammatireferred embodiments of my invention in t e accompanying drawings in v o 70 Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross section taken on line 2-2 of igure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the form of construction shown inFigure 1; f

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section taken on line 4-4 of Figure .8;

Fi ure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing a modified form of construction and Figure 6 is a section taken onE-line 66 of re 5 and shown on an enlarged scale. e apparatus comprises the main platform 11 which is supported by bear-in 12 on the axles 13 which latter. serve to rive the caterpillar traction elements 14. The platform 11 carriesthe electric motor 15- which, through suitable caring, drives the gear 16 moun'tedonthe s aft 13."

The platform 11 also carries the fixed illar 17. At the top of this 'llar is the ydraulic jack 18, and at the ttom a similar jack 19 intov either or both of which fluid may be pumped by the hydraulic ump unit 20 carried by the platform 11. hese units 18 and 19 maybe caused to firmly engage the roof 21 and the 'flodr 22 to anchor the apparatus in place. .The, fixed column '17 also carries theretati sleeve 23, the'lower end of wliieli'is y secured to the rotating drive member mem I provided with the laterally extending 24. The sleeve 23 and member 24 are carried platform 11- and serves to receive material on the circular roller bearing 25, as indicated passing from the conveyor through a consid in Figure 1. The latform 11 carries the motors 26 and 27 w ich drive the worms 28 and 29 res ectively, engaging the worm gear 80 u n2: e outer periphery of the drive As best shown in Figure 2,the sleeve 23 trunnions 31. These carry the cradle 32, which is provided upon its upper face with the'opemn' gs 33 adapted to permit the cradle to l t upper edges are also on its trunnions without engaging the sleeve 23. The booms: 34 and 35 pass through the cradle 32 and are supported on the rollers 36 carried by the cradle. Their guided by the rollers the booms carry the The upper sides racks 38 and 39.

The cradle 32 supports-the bracket 40,

, which carries the motor 41 and the transverse .shaft 42. Thisshaft 42 is driven by motor' 47 carries the worm gear 49 which is driven .by a worm connection from motor 50.

on 51 is carried upon the The dipper, or s 1 forward end of t e booms 34 and 35. The

front 'member 52 of the spoon carries the teeth 53 upon its forward edge. Certainof these teeth 53ers connected by'bars 54 with the air knocker 55 carried upon the rear ,face of the spoon 51. These bars 54, maybe located in grooves cast or planed in the front face, member 52 as shown in Figure 4. The

forward portion of the bottom 56 of the dipper is provided with thefixed'teeth-57.

The pusher plate 58 is normally fitted aqzmst the rear wall 59 of the spoon 51. 's plate 58 is connectedby shaft 59 to, a

' reciprocating piston carried in the cylinder the spoon swung back into position and the 60 on the rear'of the spoon;

The form of construction shown in Figures 5 and 6 differs from that above described,

shown in Fi ures 5 and 6 is similar to that merely in the means for discharg'n the mine material from the spoon 61. he om 62 which is associated with the rearedge of the spoon 61 is made in box shape, as shown in Figure 6. The upper run of the drag conveyor 63 asses over the" inside of the bot-- tom plate 0 the boom 62. This plate is extended forward at 64 to form the rear portion of the bottom of the spoon 61. The forward endof this conveyor passes over the roller 65 and the rear end passes over the roller'66'r-This roller 66 is driven; by the motor 67 carried by the rear end of the boom;

The areuate discharge hopper 68 is carrie l from the body of. the machine or from thi tion is. stop the face by ringing t e booms backthrough lar tractor members. The machine is stopped adjacent the breast of coal to be mined and by means of hydraulic power supplied by unit 20, the-jacks 18 and 19 are brought firmly to bear against the roof and floors respectively, thus anchoring the machine. The booms 34 and 35 are run out by means of motor 41 until the teeth are in contact with the left side of the face to be cut. The booms will be tiltedupwardly by power supplied from the motor 50. This rotates the member 47 drawing down the screw 46 and by means of the yoke 45 pulling down u on the bracket 40 connected to the rear en of the cradle 32. trunnions "31. a

'The spoon is now swun clockwise against the coal by applying power thr'ou h motors 26 and 27 to the drive member 24. his member 24 rotates the cradle through trunnions 31 and the engagement of the cradle with the .booms positively swings them together with the spoon. During this \movement, fluid ower, as for example co pressed air, may he supplied to the knockerEylinder 55 which, b means of bars 54, ser es to rapidly re clprocate certain of the teeth 53. This facilitates the cutting action of thespoon.

When the spoon is loaded; the swlngin acthe s oon isretracted mm the cradle by power supplied by motor 41. The booms are then rotated to bring the forward edge of the spoon over the car or other means for receiving the coal and the coal is pushed from the s oon by admitting fluid under pressure to the rearend of the cylinder 60. This causes the member 58 to clear thespoon. The member 58 is retracted and cut continued.

Theoperation of the form of construction just describe with the exception of the dischar e of the material from the spoon. In this orm, the coal or other material mined maybe continuously discharged from the spoon by means of the drag conveyor 63.

The hopper 68 may be constructed to cover sufliciently to bring its discharge end above the hoppen The cradle 32 is thus tilted about the While I have shown certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be under- A stood that these are illustrative onl and I a 1. In a mining machine,

contemplate such chan es and modi cations as come within the spirit and scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

a movable platform, a shovel su ported from said platform teeth upon an e ge of the shovel, certain 0 said teeth being fixed and others being movable, and means adapted to reciprocate the movable teeth.

2. In a mining machine, a movable latform, a shovel su ported from said plat orm, teeth upon an e e of'the shovel, certain of said teeth being xed and others being movable, means extendin from the movable teeth to the rear of the shovel, said means bein located within the contour of the shovel, and pistons and cylinders coacting with said means to reciprocate said teeth.

3. In a mlning machine, a movable platform, a fixed column carried by said platform, trunnions rotatably carried by said column, a cradle carried on said trunnion's,.a shovel and shovel carrying booms extending through said cradle.

4. In a mining machine, a movable latform, a fixed column carried by said lat orm,

. trunnions rotatably carried bysai column,

a cradle carried on said trunnions, ,a shovel and shovel carrying booms extendm throu h said cradle,- and means carried b t e cra 1e for moving said booms longitu inally relative to the cradle.

5. In a mining machine, the combination of i a movable platform, a combined digging and raking device, a boom therefor, means mounting said boom for movement from side to side for digging material from the mine face and for vertical adjustingmovement, and or a forward and backward raking movement, and means for moving and controlling the movement of said boom said digging and raking device havin teeth and being adapted to" advance and move laterallyon a (gigging stroke inwardly of the mine wall ace.

6. A mining machine havin a movable platform, a boom carried by sai platform, a

digging and raking tool on the end of said boom, said boom bein mounted for horizontal and vertical swinging movements and in and out longitudinal movements, an means for moving said boom in all of said directions,

said boom being provided with a conve or track anda conveyor operativel mounts on said track, said conveyor exten ing adjacent said tool in a position to receivematerial dug thereby. v

7 A mining machine havin a movable platform, a boom carried by sai platform, a igging and raking tool on the end of said laced at a penetrating v angle to the ace of t e mine wal boom, said boom being mounted for horizontal and vertical swinging movements, and in and out longitudinal movements, and means for moving said boom in all of said directions, said boom being provided with a conveyor track and a conveyor operativel mounted on said track, said conveyor extend ing adjacent said tool, in a position to receive material dug thereby and a second conveyor fixedly mounted relative to said platform, having means associated therewith for directing material onto said second conveyor, said last named means being constructed to receive material from said first conveyor from any of a plurality of positions of said boom.

8. A mining machine adapted to dig and remove material from a substantiall vertical face of a mine wall, comprising a single digging and raking device havingla material receiving portion and teeth on t e edge of said portion, said teeth being disposed to enetrate the face of the mine wall when sai digging and rakin device is swung bodily in a horizontal pat a boom for said digging and raking device rigidly attached thereto, and means for mountin said boom for ment on vertical and horizonta axes and for longitudinal movement toward and away from the face of the mine wall.

Signed at Harrisburg, Illinois, this 12th ivotal move- 

